Makeover – A Diamond in the Stuff

Laundry Room Board and Batten

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 13:00:35 +0000

I have shared glimpses of my laundry room on the blog several times. You can see posts HERE, HERE, and HERE. I was wanting to upgrade the laundry room a bit and maybe even provide some more organizational options. Also, I was wanting to tackle something new. For some time I had kept my eye on DIY board and batten projects and really loved the look. This was the time to take the plunge and give it a try.

My supplies were:

6in x 1in pine board/s

3in x 1in pine boards

White caulking

Nails/nail gun

Paint

Hooks (optional)

To an extent, the amount of supplies you will need will depend on how big of an area you will be putting up your board and batten. The wall that I was putting mine on was a fairly small area so I didn’t need a lot of lumber, paint, etc. Also, some of the decisions we made were purely opinion on our part. We decided to have the whole thing stand 55in from the ground. This is just what looked good to us, I’ve seen them taller and shorter. This also applies to how far apart we decided to put the vertical boards. Our wall studs were 16in apart so we made our lives easier and nailed a 3×1 board on every stud, making sure that they were evenly spaced. We have a nail gun so that was our best option to attach the boards to the walls. If you don’t have a nail gun, a good ole hammer and nails or glue would work as well.

Once all the boards were attached to the walls, it was time to tackle the imperfections. We didn’t choose the highest quality boards (nor did we pick the roughest either) and no matter what there will be gaps and holes. I wanted the end result to look polished and professional. I grabbed some white EASY CAULKING and following the directions, I applied it to any gaps and holes I saw. Where the boards come together and where the boards attach to the wall there may be gaps. Where the nail gun shot nails into the wood there are holes. Things like wood filler work too, but I can say that this stuff was so so easy to work with and it did a great job!!! {not a paid advertisement, just my personal experience}

Once I was happy with my caulking job and it had dried, it was time to paint. We had some paint left over from a home improvement project that matched our trim, so I decided to use that. This way it would match with the baseboards underneath the board and batten. I did a few coats of it for good coverage and went back and did some touch ups when needed. I had really wanted to create more organization with this project, not just have it look pretty. So I bought some black hooks that just so happen to match the hooks on the other side of our laundry room! How that happened, I’ll never know!

*side not: forgive me, these are not the best photos as there is absolutely no natural light in this room. Unless I open the garage and the connecting door. But y’all get the point.*

So here it is all done! I absolutely love it and it has even brightened up the room, which it needed. The board and batten really upgrade the room and add something special.

To add even more organizational power, I added some nice hooks behind the door into the laundry room. When we moved in the previous owners had a simple nondescript broom holder, which served it’s purpose fine but I wanted something that looked nicer. I don’t have a closet to stuff all my brooms and such away, so behind the door it is. At least now it looks tidier and cleaner.

Here’s a shot from our garage. My sweet little puppy decided to make an appearance in this shot! I’m still loving my Crib Spring Drying Rack and my Washer and Dryer Pedestal! All this organization in one room makes my heart flutter!

It’s so pretty!

If you’re wanting to try a big project or a new idea, a small room like a laundry room or bathroom might just be the perfect place to start! Also, doing big eye catching features come across great in smaller rooms so that they are not overwhelming in scale! I think this Laundry Room Board and Batten turned out just perfectly for my room! What do you think?

Linking up with THESE great parties!!!

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Here are some Laundry Room Organizing Ideas to get that crazy room whipped into shape…..

Farmhouse Headboard Bench

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 11 May 2016 13:00:31 +0000

I had a show last month that I had to get tons of stuff ready for. I was running low on larger furniture items which meant lots of work needed to be done. So into the scary garage I went to start dragging stuff out and begin the transformations. One of the first items I knew that I wanted to tackle was a old wood headboard and footboard set. I had scored them for cheap but they were missing the side rails so it was time to get creative. That’s when the Farmhouse Headboard Bench was born.

Here is the headboard (and the footboard, I will get to that another day).

Step one was to create the bench structure. If you want a more detailed description you can visit my post about my Crib Bench. Basically we built a box out of 1×4’s, added legs, and 1×10’s across the top. Then we bolted the box to the headboard.

Now that the structure was built, it was time to make it pretty. I wanted the bench to have a farmhouse look to it so I chose to go with an antique white paint and stained seat. I used Dark Walnut stain by Minwax on the seat and on the “apron” and legs. I did the apron and legs too because I wanted the whole bench to be darker in color so that when I distressed it, everything would look uniform.

Once the staining was done, I painted everything except the seat top a creamy white. It took a couple coats of paint and then I did some distressing here and there. The dark stain beneath showed through beautifully. I used a clear coat on the painted parts and a wipe on poly for the stained seat.

Oh man, she’s a beauty! I love it. It’s simple and yet so pretty!

Before I stained the seat I had some fun ruffing the boards. I used a metal file, hammer, screws, and nails to give them a more aged appearance.

It has bench is rustic, but not too rustic.

It has an entirely different look then my Crib Bench and I love it just as much! The Farmhouse Headboard Bench quickly became one of my favorites and I’m trying to figure out how I need two upcycled bed benches in my house. But until then, this beauty remains for sale!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Want another farmhouse inspired project? Check out this Drop Leaf Farmhouse Coffee Table transformation…..

DIY Round Industrial Coffee Table

Courtney Carmean — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:00:10 +0000

I have been in an industrial decor kind of mood lately apparently! I’m really loving the “industrial farmhouse” look right now so it’s inspiring a lot of what I’m working on. I just did a Makers Fair this past weekend and when my booth was all set up it reflected the mood I’ve been in. Which just so happened to make a pretty stunning booth if I do say so myself! One of the items in my booth was this fabulous Round Industrial Coffee Table. Want to see how I made it?

It all started with this coffee table that I shared in a Thrifty Thursday post awhile ago. I ended up splitting the pedestal and the top into two separate projects because the original coffee table was attached in a jankey way. You can see what I did with the pedestal base HERE. As you can see in the original picture of the coffee table, the top was really unattractive. It looked beat up and not in a good way.

So I started the stripping and sanding process, which was quite the undertaking because it seems like there was globs of stain and clear coat on this thing. My plan was to sand all the way down to raw wood and then re-stain it. Well before that could happen I fell in love with it mid-makeover; I looked at the table top and it had a really neat naturally worn look to it. I stopped right there and decided that all it needed was a clear coat.

That took care of the top but now I needed a new base. Since I was in an industrial mood and I had just done another project with plumbing pipes, I decided to use them again. I made a Home Depot run and gathered up all the pipes, flanges, and end caps that I needed.

I really wanted the piping to be dark but they only had some of these items in the silver colored pipe. So I gathered up the pieces I needed and then planned to paint them. I first put the base together, then I used a primer especially for metal. Lastly I used some matte black spray paint and topped it off with a spray clear coat. It was super easy to attach the new pipe base to the wood top, just use some screws through the flanges.

Here is the finished piece!

I don’t know about you, but I think she is beautiful!!!

The wood is imperfect and has many flaws…..but I think that’s what gives it so much personality. I love the look of the worn away stain, I don’t think I could of planned it any better!

It made a really awesome meeting of two different styles that somehow works.

Well I hope you love my DIY Round Industrial Coffee Table as much as I do! It sure ended up different than I had originally planned and I love it so much more!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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I mentioned another recent industrial pipe project and here it is! I am crushing pretty hard on my new Industrial Open Shelving and I’d love you to come check it out!

Window Memo Board Coat Rack

Courtney Carmean — Tue, 26 May 2015 13:00:12 +0000

Several years ago (almost 5 to be exact) I gave an old window a makeover. This yellow window was one of my first projects to be posted here at ADitS and it was my first big vinyl project. A bit of a blast from the past if you will. My style and my techniques have evolved just a tad since then. After it’s first makeover it had a home in the kitchens of our last two houses. When we moved into our current home (yes that means 3 houses in the last 5 years) there was no place to hang my yellow window up so out in the garage it went. Finally I decided to give this window memo board a makeover, again!

The yellow window had been a bit beat up and the chalkboard and memo board pieces had seen better days. I was also tired of the yellow. It needed something new and fresh. The window got a new paint job using a beautiful aqua chalk paint. I replaced the two end openings with sheet metal cut to size and spray painted with chalkboard paint.

I was also over the old vinyl saying I had on the window, so I updated that too with my Silhouette. It’s almost like a completely new window, a completely new project.

The one thing that stayed the same was the old glass door knobs that I left on the window for hooks. They are just too darn pretty to replace and they look great on the new makeover!

Overall the makeover of the makeover turned out beautifully. I don’t think this Window Memo Board Coat Rack deserves to be exiled into the garage any longer!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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While you’ve visiting, let me show you my daughter’s Girl’s Room Gallery Wall I posted recently. I’ll be posting all about her room soon so stay tuned!!!

Girl’s Room Gallery Wall

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 13 May 2015 13:00:55 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but my “little” girl is turning 10 next month. I can’t handle it so I’m going to quickly move on and not ACTUALLY think about that. It was pretty evident that she needed to have a little “big” girl sprucing up in her room. She has had the same theme in her room since she was born; a garden theme. Up until this point it was pink, green, and white. It was also very little girl. Which seemed fine until we all realized she will soon be an official tween. So it was time I asked her if an update was in order. Of course she jumped at the chance and surprising to me, she still wanted the “garden theme” but she had something else in mind for her color pallet.

She wanted hot pink, aqua, and gold for her new room and this mama was totally on board. There was a huge, long blank wall in her room so I decided a great way to upgrade her room would be to add an awesome Girl’s Room Gallery Wall. It would be a great way to bring in her new color pallet and add some awesome new items too.

Amazingly I had to buy hardly anything to complete this gallery wall, which is always a plus. Two of the items I did buy were the hot pink frame (which was black and I spray painted it) and the metal flowers (which I also spray painted). The last thing I bought was the fabric used in the embroidery hoop and as the backing for a couple frames. That’s it. Not too shabby right? Everything else I had on hand. All I had to do was round them all up and paint them in her new color scheme.

I created three wood signs for the wall with my Silhouette Cameo. Two just with scrap wood that was in my garage and one with a laser cut frame from Michael’s that I’ve had forever. I just picked a few quotes that I saw and fell in love with for her room. If you want to know how I make my signs check out the tutorials HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I wanted to play with texture, materials, patterns, and colors. So I had some fun with things when deciding what made it up on the wall. I included things like a metal gate, a bird house, and a bird’s nest amongst picture frames, wood signs, and more! Oh and of course the chalkboard which I figured would be a great addition for her to write her own fun notes on.

I battled the arrangement a bit at the beginning but everything really came together well in the end. Actually it all came together better than I had imagined.

The colors are more grown up but still so girly. And the BEST part? My daughter just loves loves it. If you come over to our house, chances are she will drag you back to her room to show it off. Which for me, it can’t get any better than that.

The room makeover is coming along pretty well now, getting the Gallery Wall done was the biggest part. Once I get the rest of the room wrapped up I’ll share the whole sha-bang on the blog! So what do you think? Know any tweens that would love this room?

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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My last project up on the blog is my Spring Monogram Mantel. I’m a sucker for a fresh new mantel and this one is basically everything I wanted!

Sewing Table Makeover

Courtney Carmean — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:00:53 +0000

Sorry for the radio silence this week. I was getting ready for a huge maker’s fair this past weekend. As promised, it was amazing! My only issue is that because I’m selling there, I don’t get the opportunity to walk around and see all the other maker’s stuff. Sad face. The turnout was great and it was a beautiful day!

Now I want to introduce you to a beauty that made a first appearance at the makers fair this weekend…..

My Sewing Table Makeover began pretty shabby. You may remember seeing this old sewing table in a Thrifty Thursday post awhile back. The top of the wood table was warped and damaged. Basically the only thing that I could salvage was the iron base and the drawers. Which is exactly what I did.

We removed the wood top and old sewing machine from the base. The base was a little rusty so I gave it a good coat of clear spray to keep the rust in check.

A new top of cut out of 3/4in plywood. We used the existing holes in the iron base to attach the plywood top.

I have been collecting old yard sticks for months and months now. I used a bunch on my last Yard Stick Sewing Table but I still had a bunch to use up. So we cut the yard sticks to the length we needed and even wrapped some around the sides. They were attached with wood glue and a nail gun. Then I gave the whole top a few coats of polycrylic to protect and smooth things out.

The end results were amazing.

The variations of color and character of the yard sticks is just awesome. I love the typography of it all.

What was once a discarded old mess is now a beautiful table. And let me just tell you almost everyone in my booth this weekend had to “pet” the table as the walked through. It’s just that beautiful.

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Want more sewing table inspiration? Here is my Yard Stick Sewing Table makeover…..